Wireless technology standards, such as 3rd Generation, 4th Generation and 5th Generation standards, adopt new technologies, add new features, and increase data rates much faster than actual hardware developments and deployments. As a result, the capacity of a NodeB (or base station) platform (e.g., a hardware board such as a modem board) fills up quickly. This reduces the life cycle of a platform, which then requires more frequent development of new platforms. However, such development not only increases costs, but may delay product delivery time.
Conventionally, L1/L2 processing boards (also referred to as modem boards) at a NodeB utilize a single-board architecture (SBA). In this conventional architecture, each board is connected to all antennas, and performs both L2 scheduling and L1 processing for all cells in the NodeBs coverage area. As a result, all 3GPP standard features are implemented on each board. This “one board for all” solution shortens the life cycle of the boards and limits the ability for additional 3GPP features to be added to the boards.